Mass flight cancellations spread in a second day after storms hit major East Coast airports on Thursday.
At 9:30 pm on Friday, flight tracking website FlightAware showed that more than 1,500 flights in the United States had been cancelled. Once again, New York’s LaGuardia, Newark Liberty International and Reagan National Airport outside Washington were at the top of cancellations.
“We are working on a variety of weather-related challenges that are impacting several of our larger operations across the country this week,” Southwest Airlines said in a statement Friday.
There were more than 7,700 delays reported in the United States as of Friday, according to FlightAware.
Airlines are struggling with flight cancellations and delays this summer as they face staff shortages, bad weather and air traffic control delays.
US airlines have been preemptively reducing their schedules to alleviate air traffic disruptions, with the American Airlines latest to make cuts primarily at its hub in Philadelphia.
American Airlines has canceled more than 200 flights as of Friday afternoon.
Air traffic disruptions were also bad in Europe. London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol airports announced this week measures to reduce congestion.
On Thursday, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration screened more than 2.3 million passengers at airport security checkpoints across the country, about 87% from the same day of the week in 2019.
The US Department of Transportation on Wednesday proposed a rule that would expand the circumstances under which airline passengers can obtain refunds.
This proposal comes amid a flurry of complaints from passengers seeking refunds from airlines since the start of the pandemic.
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